Hannay was a 1988 spin-off from the 1978 film version of John Buchan's novel The Thirty-Nine Steps which had starred Robert Powell as Richard Hannay. In the series, Powell reprised the role of Hannay, an Edwardian mining engineer from South Africa of Scottish origin. It features his adventures in pre-World War I Great Britain. These stories had little in common with John Buchan's novels about the character, although some character names are taken from his other novels. There were two series, the first with six episodes, the second with seven.